Offensive tackle Michael Oher, whose unlikely rise from childhood poverty to the NFL was told in the movie "The Blind Side," was released Thursday by the Carolina Panthers after failing his team physical.
The 31-year-old blocker, a member of Baltimore's 2013 Super Bowl championship squad, has been in the NFL concussion protocol since last September.
Oher started the first three games last season for Carolina before suffering a concussion that kept him out the remainder of the season.
Oher's eight-season, 110-game NFL career began with Baltimore in 2009. He left for Tennessee in 2014 but was dropped after one season and signed with the Panthers in 2015. He started every game for the Carolina squad that reached Super Bowl 50, losing to the Denver Broncos.
Guarding the blind side of star quarterback Cam Newton as the starting left tackle, Oher produced perhaps his finest campaign, allowing a career-low four sacks with only three penalties while on the field for 98.4 percent of plays.
Oher was one of the subjects in a 2006 book and his story attracted the interest of filmmakers, being released in 2009 and being nominated for an Academy Award. Actress Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, the woman who helped Oher rise despite homelessness and parents who battled addiction or spent time in prison.
Oher, one of the few players on social media to support former Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman after he was fired Monday, has a Friday court date in Nashville, Tennessee, after being charged with misdemeanor assault.
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The regular season of home and away matches run from September to December 2017, culminating in PlayOffs from January 6, 2018 and the Super Bowl on February 4, 2018 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota to determine the world champion.